Sometimes small is better than big after all

By Simon Groen

"That could be much bigger!" is a common piece of advice during presentation training. The gestures may be bigger, the message may be bigger, and slides are stripped of text so that large pictures get all the space they need. Yet big is not the only mark of quality. On the contrary. Small is ultimately more important in getting your audience on the edge of their seats. Why is that and how do you use small?

The more specific we make something, the more we zoom in, the faster people will identify with it. "The lemon was sour" has a very different effect than "when I put my teeth into the lemon, the inside of my mouth contracted, my face turned into a twisted grimace and a shiver went through my whole body." The last evokes an image, recognizable to almost everyone.

Velcro

Recognition works like Velcro. It creates tiny loops where new information can hook on. The more loops, the stronger the connection. So think carefully beforehand about the knowledge, experiences and images your audience already has that you can hook into. And then wrap those up in visual language. This can be done with examples, a personal story or metaphor and with descriptions of an emotion, need or sensory perception.

This sometimes goes against our nature. We see stories or examples as cozy digressions better saved for over drinks. But nothing could be further from the truth. It is precisely recognizable details that have the mysterious effect of making the listener identify and connect with your message.

Three tips to captivate with details:

1.Zoom in, and don't do it too sparingly.

In this TEDtalk, Malcolm Gladwell describes the scene in such detail that the narration time sometimes exceeds the narration time.

2. Your message determines your choice of details.

Oprah Winfrey carefully chooses a few details in describing Christmas dinner, to reinforce the contrast between "normal" and "strange" guests.

3. Use shared experiences

Cabaret artists have made it their profession. Sebastian Maniscalco describes that one airport scene we've all experienced.